Skip Stone House: Freeform Design Challenge

Client

Role

Design Architect

Team

Potential partnership with Branch Technology for first 3D Printed Home

Type

New Construction

Program

Residential, Private

Status

Proposal 2016

Size

800 sq. ft.

About the Project

DFA designed the micro Skip Stone House as a proposal for creating the first 3D printed house. The design is simple, elegant and efficient, informed by the snapshot moment when a stone ricochets off of water’s surface. The exterior is conceived as a gently folded plane with the outward presence of a river rock: just the right combination of flat and smooth, and worn round in all the right places. The tessellated skin, comprised of building-integrated photovoltaic panels, ceramic tile and green roof modular elements, nods to the more crystalline past of stone. The secondary enclosure system is comprised of a folding ribbon wall of glass. A service core longitudinally bisects the home’s interior into public and private spaces and is the distribution and circulation point for HVAC, plumbing, hydronic radiant floors, and electricity. Storage, bathing and cooking functions also quietly reside in the core.